Indian cricket going in circles

At the best of times, the Indian cricket fan’s hair is at the gravest risk: the team flutters from the sublime to the ludicrous and back so quickly that you often get the urge to tear it off.

You can imagine the plight of the hapless hair when the team is caught in a particularly perplexing maze; after the rout in England and the hiding in Australia, it is clearly lost in one of those intricate lanes.

Not too surprisingly, India have embarked on a fanciful experiment: pompously called ‘the rotation policy’, in this the three openers in the squad take turns at missing a game so that the youngsters in the middle order get more opportunities.

On the surface, it seems like a smart, even laudable, move: after all, the future lies in the hands, wrists and willows of the youth brigade. But one wonders why this masterstroke didn’t strike them during the Tests, when the seniors couldn’t make mincemeat of the ball.

Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni and, to some extent, even Tendulkar looked like they needed a break; yet, none of them was rested and India’s famed batting lineup looked like a pale shadow of itself. If nothing, fresh legs would have forced the Aussies to draw up a new plan for the new batsman.

Rohit Sharma was itching to have a go; yet, he was kept on the sidelines, match after match. Worse, he was left on sharp tenterhooks in the run-up to each Test, with no clear indication if he was in or out. The pressure and anxious wait must have taken a toll on him. And it’s showing in the One-dayers.

One of India’s finer talents might wither away even before he can blossom, let alone bloom. Rohit, thankfully, has already experienced the vicissitudes of life and won’t give in without a wholesome fight. He knows that runs are his only ally in tough times and he will have to tap them for survival.

Virat Kohli too teetered towards the edge, primarily because of the fear of failure; luckily, the team management gave him one last chance, that too at treacherous Perth, and he passed his test of fire. One can only wonder if Rohit too would have already crossed his big hurdle, if he had been drafted in at the right time.

The team seems to have learnt its lesson. However, one suspects it’s not as simple as it seems: it’s now an open secret that Sehwag and Dhoni don’t see eye to eye. Was he a victim of this ego game in the opening encounter? Is that why Gambhir was dropped in the second match and the bogey of rotation policy raised?

When it comes to India, you can never say. Anyway, such an important policy shift cannot be left at the whims and fancies of the captain or the touring think-tank; it has to be at the behest of the selection panel, and that too only if it is convinced that it’s the only way forward into the future.

Otherwise, the aim always has to be to field the best possible combination: the best players, the in-form batsmen and bowlers must be preferred, unless there are injury worries. Or indeed, if somebody is showing clear signs of fatigue or jadedness.

Sadly, these are not the best of times for Indian cricket. Which means your hair is not safe.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Bobilli Vijay Kumar is TOI's National Sports Editor. He writes a weekly column, mainly on cricket; he has many interests, though, going way beyond sport itself: you can't keep him out of a movie hall or away from Floyd or Doors. He loves to cook and show off his French; he can play a tune or two on the guitar too. His current fancy, though, is salsa.

Bobilli Vijay Kumar is TOI's National Sports Editor. He writes a weekly column, mainly on cricket; he has many interests, though, going way beyond sport its. . .